Overshoe



March 28, 1939.

H. F. WATERS OVERSHOE .Filed May 21, 1937 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to overshoes, and, more particularly, to an overshoe of novel and improved character.

Heretofore, overshoes have been manufactured -l5 in various forms and shapes generally of rubber or of rubberized fabric. Conventional over shoes had such size that they could be readily slipped over the shoes to protect them and the feet of the person wearing the same from the effects of rain or snow. Although undoubtedly a necessity, conventional overshoes were far from being attractive in external appearance. It is well known that persons of particular taste frequently refused to wear overshoes for this very reason and preferred to put up with the inclemencies of Weather and to expose their health to danger rather than to appear with overshoes which necessarily failed to harmonize with the shoes worn or with the other articles of clothing. It has already been suggested to manufacture overshoes simulating the appearance of patent leather. These prior. attempts, however, did not provide a solution of the problem. Overshoes necessarily had to be less in height than the shoe proper in view of the fact that the rubber or rubber fabrics are impermeable to air and prevent ventilation unless they are limited Therefore,

to the lower portions of the shoe. even though an attractive finish was provided for the overshoe, the upper of the shoe necessarily protruded beyond the marginal portions of the overshoe and the discrepancy between the shoe and the overshoe destroyed the decorative efiect, however carefully planned otherwise. Although many other suggestions and proposals have been made to solve the outstanding problem,

none, as far as I am aware, of these various suggestions and proposals has been completely satisfactory and successful or has met with public acceptance.

I have discovered a simple and satisfactory solution of this problem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an overshoe of novel character which overcomes the disadvantages of conventional overshoes.

It is another object of the invention to provide a novel and improved overshoe which completely blends with the external appearance of conventional shoes and which forms an attractive and decorative unitary combination with the shoe when it is worn.

It is a further object of the invention to pro-- vide an overshoe having decorative elements and marginal lines embodied therein conforming tosimilar elements or lines of the shoe on which the overshoe is worn so that shoe and overshoe are having their terminal portions ordecorative portions blending and conforming. to each other to such an extent that the overshoe is hardly c noticeable as an individual or separable unit but will be believed to be integral and unitary with the shoe. I V

The invention also contemplates the provision of an overshoe which may be sold as a compli- 10 mentary element to a shoe purchased and which is in complete decorative harmony with such shoe. It is also within contemplation of the invention to provide an improved and. attractive overshoe which may be manufactured by means of existing equipment on a practical and industrial scale and which may be sold at a low price.

Other and further objects and advantages of my improved overshoe will become apparent. from the following description taken in conjunction 2 with'the accompanying drawing, in which;

Fig. 1 illustrates a side elevational view of a shoe to be worn'in combination with the overshoe embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 depicts a similar view of an overshoe embodying the principles of the present invention; and

Fig. 3 shows the overshoe embodying the invention as it is worn over the shoe.

Broadly stated, according to the principles of my invention I provide an overshoe constituted of any suitable impermeable material such as, for example, rubber or rubberized fabric. I dispense, however, with the conventional straight-edged opening and provide a terminal line of such character for the upper edge of the overshoe that it conforms to certain conventional decorative lines of the shoe proper. Thus, the upper edge of the novel overshoe will not be straight but will be curvilinear and will accurately conform to certain decorative lines or structural lines of the shoe, such as, for example, the lower seam of the upper and the seam on the back of the shoe.

In addition to this, I form the toe of my overshoe to simulate the toe and toe seam, or toe strip, of a conventional shoe. Moreover, I propose to manufacture my overshoe of such material which has a color closely simulating that of the shoe over which it will be worn, and provide leathersimulating texture or grain on the outer surface thereof for example by means of molding. Thus, black rubber-material or material having a patent leather finish will be provided for black shoes, and brown. or similar colored material having leather-imitative grain will be employed for brown shoes," as those skilled in the art will readily understand.

It is also to be observed that best results are obtained when the overshoe is designed and built with a particular type, size and style of shoe in view. In other words, I prefer to make my improved overshoes as exactly conforming in their decorative lines to a predetermined type of shoe. This, of course, will make it necessary for the dealer to carry an overshoe of definite and conforming character for every shoe in his stock. This, however, is no serious disadvantage in view of the fact that the cost of overshoes is generally merely a fraction of that of shoes so that the stock of overshoes to be carried with a normal stock of shoes will not represent a very substantial capital outlay.

The invention will now be more fully described to those skilled in the art, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1 of the drawing, a conventional shoe is illustrated having anupper H and a sole portion 12. Toe I3 is provided with a decorative seam line, or toe strip, l4, and similar seam lines of a decorative character, l5 and [6, are provided between the upper and the front and back portion of the shoe.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated. Essentially, a body portion 21 and a sole portion 22 are provided which are preferably integrally formed or molded from rubber or rubberized fabric. The

front or toe portion of the overshoe is provided with a toe 23 which simulates the shape of a conventional toe and has a seam, or toe strip, 24 molded therein simulating the corresponding seam line of a shoe. The upper terminal or marginal edge of the overshoe is not straight but is constituted of curvilinear elements or lines accurately conforming to corresponding lines of a shoe. Thus, front terminal edges 25 of the overshoe accurately conform in shape to the seam between the upper and the front portion of a shoe, and the rear terminal edges 26 of the overshoe accurately conform to the seam line between the upper and the back portion. of the shoe. The dimensions of the overshoe are carefully adjusted to those of the shoe over which it will be worn'so that it wi1l snugly fit the shoe and that its edges will completely cover the corresponding decorative or seam lines of the shoe.

From a comparison of the shoe illustrated in Fig. 2 with the shoe conforming thereto and depicted in Fig; 1, it will be readily observed that their respective elements are exactly conforming to each other in size and in shape. Thus, the upper front marginal edge 25 of the overshoe is accurately conforming to seam line l5 of the shoe, and back marginal edge 26 of the overshoe exactly conforms to seam line l5 of the shoe. Likewise, line, or toe strip, 24 on the toe of the overshoe is an exact duplicate of line, or toe strip, I4 of the shoe.

1 The complete effect and the attractive appearance of my novel and improved overshoe will be best observed from Fig. 3 which shows the overshoe as worn over the shoe and in which reference characters similar to those employed in Figs. '1 and 2 are used. From Fig. 3 it will be readily seen that all of the: essential elements, both decorative and structural, closely conform to each other both in the overshoe and in the. shoe and form a unitary structure of attractive appearance in which the shoe proper and the overshoe thereon can be hardly recognized as independent elements.

It will be noted that the overshoe embodying the principles of the present invention provides a number of important advantages. First of all, the first time in the history of the art, an overshoe is provided which combines utility and. attractive appearance in contrast to the crude and clumsy appearance of conventional overshoes.

It is also to be observed that the overshoe embodying the principles of the present invention so closely resembles the corresponding lower portion of a conventional shoe that far from conflicting with the appearance of the shoe, it is hardly noticeable as an individual unit when Worn.

Moreover, the novel overshoe is advantageously sold in combination with the shoe and at the same time therewith since this assures in the simplest way perfect matching of the two. This circumstance is capable of greatly stimulating the sale of overshoes and makes overshoes acceptable even to persons of highly critical taste who have objected to the clumsy appearance of prior overshoes.

Furthermore, in general, the manufacture of my improved overshoes does not require any considerable changes in present manufacturing facilities or routine and does not involve any expensive or special raw materials different from those employed in prior manufacturing processes.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof, variations and modifications may be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the principles of the present invention. I consider all of these variations and modifications as within the true spirit and scope of the present invention as disclosed in the present description and defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An overshoe adapted to form a decoratively perfect unitary structure with a particular shoe of predetermined type, size and style over which it will be worn to the extent of substantially losing its identity as a distinct and separable unit which comprises a body portion and a sole portion constituted of an impermeable material having an outer surface imitative of the outer surface of said particular shoe and having its upper terminal edges at'a substantial distance from said sole portion and. accurately conforming to decorative and structural lines of said shoe whereby the overshoe when worn over said particular shoe will form a separately undistinguishable and decoratively unitary structure therewith.

2. An overshoe adapted to form a decoratively perfect unitary structure with a particular shoe of predetermined type, size and style over which it will be worn to the extent of substantially losing its identity as a distinct and separable unit which comprises a body portion and a sole portion constituted of an impermeable material having an outer surface simulating the outer surface of said particular shoe, a toe portion integral with said body portion and having a toe strip-simulative member thereon, a front portion insaidj body portion having a terminal line exactly conforming to the corresponding seam line of the front portion of said particular shoe, and a back portion in said body portion having a terminal line exactly conforming to the correspondille line. at the back portion f said.

particular shoe whereby the terminal lines of said overshoe will accurately coniorm to the decorative and structural lines of said particular shoe when worn thereon and will form a separately undistinguishable and decoratively unitary structure therewith.

3. An overshoe adapted to form a decoratively perfect unitary structure with a particular shoe. of predetermined type, size and style over which it will be worn to the extent of substantially losing its identity as a distinct and separable unit which comprises a body portion and a sole portion integrally formed of an impermeable material having an outer surface simulating the outer surface of said particular shoe and upwardly ending in a generally curvilinear edge located throughout its entire length at a substantial distance from said sole portion, and toe portion integral with said body portion and having a toe strip-simulative seam thereon, the front portion of said upper edge accurately conforming in shape and dimensions to the seam between the upper and the front portion of said particular shoe and. the rear portion of said, upper edge accurately conforming to the seam between the upper and the back portion of said shoe.

HARRY F. WATERS. 

